Destiny
by Tegthe
Summary: Never feeling the warmth of a normal family and therefore being all alone changes with a fated meeting with a boy. A story from Shuusei's and Hotsuma's first life. Please R&R, Fem!Shuusei. Will probably change to T later on.
1. Meeting

Hi there! I'm back with multi chapter fic this time, though I'm not sure if I know what I have gotten myself into. I won't promise that I will continue this story, I'll leave that decision up to you reviewers. So please review, but remember constructive critisim is welcome but please say it in a kind way.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own UraBoku, Hotaru Odagiri does!

On with the story enjoy

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Chapter 1.

Shuusei walked quickly down an empty road trying to keep her tears falling.

The reason?

Of course it was her family, it was always her family. They didn't want her so they ignored her unless she did something bad, not that she did that often, then they were always on her, complaining how bad she was. They didn't want a weak and frail girl after all, no what they were hoping on was a boy who they could train to be a warrior in the war against the duras and bring some glory to their family, perhaps even evolving into a Zweilt guardian. They were the only family in the Giou clan that didn't have a Zweilt guardian at the moment which was very shameful for them. They would have been pretty content with a girl too but only if she'd been a strong and healthy though, then they could've married her of to someone significant in the clan. Strong and healthy was important to the clan after all since they need strong individuals who could fight the duras, and healthy women gave birth to healthy children.

Had Shuusei been in any other clan in Japan though she would've been the perfect daughter, she was quiet, obedient and calm. She'd the perfect material to be a proper lady. Unfortunately it wasn't another clan so here she was again going quickly down an empty road trying to stop her tears.

This time she had went to talk to her parents after a session of studying with a private tutor that every child in the Giou clan had to go through no matter who they were. The topic she'd tried to talk to them about were the praises she got from her tutor on how good she was. She was very serious after all since she liked to learn new things. Even though Shuusei was young she knew what she wanted and that was to advance in her studies. She thought that since her body wasn't strong enough perhaps if her mind was instead so would her parents stop ignoring her. The idea to advance was however rejected with the argument: why would we put more money on a child that is useless? This was met with silence first and then an apology from Shuusei and then turning around slowly, going out of the room and then dashing out of the house.

Every time similar things happened she told herself that she wouldn't cry next time, instead just ignore them as they ignored her.

She failed every time.

Suddenly she crashed into something hard yet soft.

Surprised she looked up and let out a gasp.

She'd crashed into a boy about the same age but it was his looks that made her gasp.

He was blond with unruly hair which is very rare and a darker skin color than her. His face was very beautiful too and Shuusei understood that when grows up all girls will be begging him to go out with them. But it was the eyes that captured her the most, they were amber colored with gold glittering in them, and they were alive. They were the warmest and most alive eyes she'd ever seen. Her own amber eyes paled in comparison and she'd been told that when she was born her eyes had almost had a life of their own with all the gold swimming in them, her family had thought that she would be someone special because of that but the gold had slowly disappeared and they lost hope. She decided that this must be how her eyes looked like when she was born.

"Are you okay?" The boy asked, looking very concerned, breaking Shuusei's concentration.

"Huh? Oh! Uhm yes I'm okay" Shuusei answered after collecting her thoughts, slightly wondering why he looked so concerned.

"Are you really sure, you are crying you know." The boy insisted.

"Oh… Well… Uhm I guess I am huh." Shuusei stuttered while trying to wipe away the tears.

"You shouldn't cry you know, you'll ruin your cute face." The boy said suddenly, Shuusei halted her hands and started to stare in disbelief at the boy.

Nobody had called Shuusei cute before so her cheeks started to turn red. In truth Shuusei was a very cute girl with big amber eyes, a cute face with the baby fat placed in just the right places and light brown hair that was slightly curled hanging down to her waist.

"I'm… not really that cute and I doubt my tears would be able to make it worse." Shuusei mumbled, feeling very embarrassed, still with rosy red cheeks.

"No, you are cute and even if you weren't, I would still say that your tears are ruining your face since no girl should cry. They should smile and be happy." The boy exclaimed with a reprimanding tone in it, but with a cheery end.

"Uh well thank you then, I guess." Shuusei responded hesitantly.

"Now you tell me what's wrong so that I can help you and not having to see you cry, by the way I hope it's not me since you wouldn't want to look at me taking care of myself." The boy demanded not hearing how weird the last part sounded.

"Pfft, hahaha" Shuusei started to laugh not being able to keep herself from it. "Taking care of yourself, that's funny." She continued.

"Ugh okay that was a bit weird but I mean it, if it was me then I'll make up for it." He said seriously trying hard not to laugh with Shuusei.

"Well you can be calm; it wasn't you who did it." She said after she was done laughing and got a depressed aura around herself.

"Who was it then?" The boy asked her cautiously, seeming to understand that this was a delicate subject.

Shuusei sighed. 'This boy is really persistent.' She thought.

"My parents" Shuusei said in the end, not wanting to lie to this beautiful boy. She had to admit she got quite attached to him even though they've only known each other a very, very short time. He was that stupidly honest kind of boy and very warm person, and she really liked it since he was one of the few persons that treated her kindly and really meant it.

"Oh… I'm sorry." He looked down; looking like he wasn't sure to say and she guessed he didn't either.

"Well I'm used to them hurting me though." Shuusei tried sounding like she didn't really care but she could hear her voice waver.

"You should never get used to something like that!" The boy almost shouted. "You should never be hurt by someone else, especially your parents. Oh, I know, I'm on my way to learn fighting or something like that and when I'm done I'm going to come for you and take you away from here. I promise." He continued.

She stared dumbstruck at him. Did he really just say that he would take her away from here? That sounded too good to be true and they didn't even know each other for God's sake. He must really be naïve, and he was talking about fighting and if you lived in this part of the country it was a high possibility that he belonged to the Giou clan, which meant he would never be able to take her away. You never get away from the clan after all, even if you fled, they would always find you.

"Uhm not be a killjoy but I don't think it's possible." Shuusei decided to say in the end, trying to bring this conversation down on earth again.

"No, I'll make it possible, just you wait, I promise." He said confidently and suddenly he smiled, and Shuusei could just stare.

It was the most radiant thing she'd ever seen, even the sun paled in comparison. There was so much warmth in that smiled too, and for Shuusei, who'd hardly gotten a smile towards her and even less on of the smiles on this level, this was something she'd never dreamed of. She could just stand there and watch basking in the warmth that suddenly seemed to surround her.

"There you are! You're not getting away again!" A new voice called out which belonged to a tall, dark haired man.

"Uh, uh he found me, I got to run. Bye!" The boy said hurriedly before dashing away from the other man who was starting to chase him. Shuusei could only watch the scene unfold before her until they were gone.

'What did just happen? She'd gotten a promise from a boy she didn't even the name of and it was a promise to take her away from her family too. This is really bizarre. But that smile though, that was something amazing, unforgettable.' She thought and decided she was too stunned to able to do anything other than going home again.

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Shuusei sat up suddenly in her bed, looking around with a confused face.

'Oh, it was that memory again.' She thought tiredly. That had happened 6 years ago and she'd never seen the boy again. She'd tried many times to forget that incident but no matter how much she'd tried it always returned, and her eyes plays it for her time and time again. It was weird actually, her whole body, brain and spirit was set on forgetting that boy, everything except her eyes, in the beginning she had played with the idea that perhaps she did have a gift but it seemed too unrealistic to be true so she'd just rejected the whole idea.

That beautiful boy had with no doubt grown up to be a handsome young man with many admires so he would probably not remember her, only she was still dwelling in that short meeting.

She really wanted to see him though, perhaps if she saw him then these memories would fade and she would be able to focus on her own life instead of thinking on a boy's she hardly knew.

That warm smile though, she would never want to forget, which was the only reason she was somewhat okay with remembering, but still it wasn't enough to making it worthwhile to remember the whole incident.

She lay down again on the bed trying to fall asleep again. It would be a new monotone day tomorrow without seeing him and it would be a little easier to get through if she was well rested and focused on her work, and soon she fell asleep again.

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That's it for this time, please review!


	2. Ordinary

Hello again! Here is the new chapter you've been waiting for. A big thanks to Iyoku no hokori, Fireblaze, Hitomi65, Inu no youkai and Harco8059 for reviewing and hopefully more will do it. Remember constructive criticism is welcome but put it in a nice way, so review.

On with the story!

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Chapter 2.

Shuusei was walking down a long corridor made by thin paper walls, making sure to be quiet since in this part of the house there wasn't supposed to be any sounds. It was after all where the old ones were and the study sessions was being held, and if you disrupted that there was a long punishment ahead of you.

She stopped in front of one of the many identical doors and quietly slid it open. She was the first to arrive so she sat herself on the tatami floor and waited.

The room was nothing special, empty paper walls and only one table in the middle of the floor. On one side of the wall was there a huge bookshelf with a lot of books and scrolls with old scripts. There were extra brushes and ink there too.

Not long after Shuusei arrived another girl came through the door.

She was just as tall as Shuusei and her facial structure was similar to Shuusei's. It was easy to see that they were family on those traits, but the rest was different. Instead of Shuusei's long, curly light brown hair, she had short, straight black bluish hair and her eyes were a very dark golden color, almost brown, and Shuusei's were amber colored. Her body form was shaped as an hourglass and you could see hints to muscles under her skin, Shuusei on the other hand didn't have any significant curves to brag about and her skinny without any real strength in them. Overall Shuusei thought the girl, her cousin named Izanami, was much more beautiful than her.

"Oh… You're early… again. Well it's not like a failure like you have anything else to do." She sneered when she spotted Shuusei on the floor.

Shuusei simply ignored her, used to all the snide remarks she came with.

Izanami humph'd, sat down and turned away from Shuusei.

They sat in silence ignoring each other and waited for their teacher.

After 5 minutes the door slid open again and a woman around her fifties came in. She was short and had her grey hair up in a skillfully made bun. Her face was full of wrinkles and her cold brown eyes together with her body language told anyone that she was very strict.

"Good morning, Kimiko-sensei." Shuusei and Izanami said respectfully to her.

"Good morning." She answered. "Today you will review over what you learned yesterday and then we'll continue with history on how Takashiro-sama discovered the first abilities God left this clan." She continued and soon they were absorbed in the studying.

Normally the women didn't learn much about this, only the most basic along with some basic fighting lessons. What they were most focused on though was how to behave like a proper lady.

Both Shuusei and Izanami were an exception to this rule in some extent. Even if they still had lessons in etiquette, so had Shuusei extra lessons in history and strategy because of her brains no one wanted to acknowledge first, and she didn't know the basics in fighting since the family didn't think she was worth it with her bad body. Izanami on the other hand were favored by the family and got extra lessons in fighting because of her natural talent, and they'd high hopes for her so they wanted her to get more knowledge to be more attractive to the higher-ups.

The only ones who were the complete excluded from this rule were the female Zweilt guardians and God's light, they didn't have lessons in how to be a proper lady, they got to train fighting and learn about stuff that they missed under those years they were dead.

Shuusei really wished she was a Zweilt, not only would she be recognized by her own family, she would be able to learn so much about the world and travel in it. She would learn how to fight as well, she'd always wanted to try the double swords, and they seemed like something even she would be able to handle. But the biggest reason was because of the partners, every Zweilt worked as a pair and they were soul mates, it was such a strong bond nothing could break it, it could only be separated by death. She'd never had a person that meant so much to her but she wanted one so bad.

They worked in silence on their reviews; only the writing on the parchment could be heard.

"I'm done." Shuusei said after working for 30 minutes.

"Hm, very good Shuusei." Kimiko praised Shuusei after looking through her work. "And how are you doing Izanami? Done yet?" She questioned her.

"No, Kimiko-sensei, not yet." Izanami answered while sending small glares at Shuusei.

"Sigh, what am I supposed to do with you, I've given you enough time and you're still not done. Why couldn't you be as smart as Shuusei? You know that if you just had a better brain then you would be able to marry any many in the Giou clan, you have the ideal body after all." She lectured Izanami, which earned Shuusei more glares that promised her suffering.

"Now let's continue the lesson. Izanami, you will complete that review under your free time, understood?" She continued, interrupting Izanami's glare.

"Understood." She answered dejected.

"Good, now we'll continue."

The lesson continued for 4 hours more before they were able to go.

Izanami and Shuusei walked quietly side by side down the paper wall corridor.

As soon as they were out of the old house Izanami took Shuusei's hand in an iron-grip and dragged her away into one of the empty street and pushed her towards a wall. Shuusei flinched at the pain.

"Okay, now listen here you little failure, you are nothing and never will be. Don't think just because you're a little smart is going to help you, because it won't, so you can drop the cheeky act. I'm the best girl in this family and I will get the best man in this clan and you will never get anyone important, never doing anything good, you're just a burden to everyone. It would be best if you just disappeared." Izanami scorned and then walked away from Shuusei with her head held high.

Shuusei could just look down under the whole ramble, not being able to say anything against her since she knew she was right. She wasn't beautiful, she had no useful skill and she wasn't strong in any way. She had nothing to offer a man and without the right connections she wouldn't be able to use her brains to anything good either. She really was just a burden.

Still she couldn't get away from here; there was still something that convinced her to stay but she didn't know what. Perhaps it was the thought of meeting that mysterious boy she met 6 years ago again, but she doubted it. He wouldn't remember her. Oh, well, time would tell its tale.

She collected herself a few more minutes before she straightened herself and began to walk back to the part where they had lessons in etiquette.

This was the lesson Shuusei hated the most, not only was it boring, it was also only annoying girls who cared about nothing except clothes and boys there.

"Hey, have you heard there's supposed to be a joint project with our family and the Renjou branch family starting next week because it seems like Takashiro-sama has discovered that two new abilities are awakening, and it's one of each branch family." Yuri said to her little group of friends.

"Wait, aren't there a lot of hot boys in that family?" Junko questioned.

"Yeah, isn't that just lucky!" Yuri answered enthusiastically.

"Isn't this a great opportunity for you Izanami? You could probably get anyone you wanted." Tsukiko said while turning to Izanami who hadn't said anything but had a scheming look on her face.

"But of course, though I won't settle with just anyone. I will get the most handsome and powerful of them. And the one I choose, no one of you can take him, understood?" Izanami demanded aloud while looking at all of the girls in the room, making sure everyone understood.

All of the girls nodded eagerly except Shuusei who couldn't care less, it didn't have anything to do with her after all.

"If it were anyone else than you Shuusei so would I make sure you never ignored me but since you're you, a failure, so isn't there anything to worry about." Izanami said and started to laugh. The other girls followed, some eager but most of them only felt sorry for Shuusei but could do nothing to stop it.

Shuusei looked down and let her hair shield her eyes so they wouldn't get the satisfaction to see her hurt look.

Before anyone could say anymore, the teacher came and started the lesson.

After 3 hours of painstakingly learning about manners they probably would have no use of so was the lesson over.

Shuusei couldn't wait to get away from there, to be able to do what she wanted without anyone watching, but before she could get away her teacher called for her.

"Shuusei, you've heard about that the Renjou family will come here next week, am I right?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Well then, to put it simply, we don't want you to be seen while they're here. So you will be excused from your classes under that time, and don't show yourself or interact with them unless they approach you and even then, try to make the meeting brief. Have you understood?" The teacher commanded, looking down on the taller Shuusei.

"Yes." Shuusei answered again, having nothing to say. But she was boiling inside.

How dare they say things like that? She knew she wasn't the best girl out there but actually ordering her to not show herself was just too much. Unfortunately there was nothing she could do so she just bore with it.

"Good. Remember they come next week." She dismissed Shuusei.

Shuusei went to her room to put on some clothes that were easier to move in instead of the light green kimono she was wearing and took one book with her before heading off to an abandoned garden where she could be alone.

The gardens small passages were surrounded with various wildflowers and big bushes in everything from yellow to purple. In the middle stood a tall Cherry tree with a small pond, connected with a small waterfall and with lotus flowers in it, beside the tree.

It was a really quiet place where no one visited anymore besides Shuusei, which made it her own little haven. Here she would go when she wanted to be alone, had time, or read a book, but she trained here as well. Not the fighting with weapons or fists kind of way but she could train her agility. It didn't take much strength to train that so even her frail body could do it and not to boast but she saw herself as the one with the lithest body in the family. She had watched the others train many times before and she could see no one who was on the same level as she was but she kept that to herself. It wasn't good to show something that could make them hate her even more. She would've been proud of it if only there was any use for it but as everything else, if you weren't strong then everything you know is useless, unless you're boy of course.

She climbed the tree until she came upon a branch where it was easy to sit and started to read the new book she found about different protective spells. She knew she would never have the possibility to try it but she wanted to learn new things and this one was her latest interest.

There she sat for the rest of the day until she got tired. She climbed down and went back to her room to get ready for bed.

The following week went by in a similar way and before long there came information about that the guests had arrived and Shuusei was excused immediately.

Deciding that she had no real reason to stick to the main house anymore without anyone checking if she was still there made it the perfect opportunity to actually concentrate long and hard on her book.

She walked quickly down the narrow roads leading to the garden but before she got even halfway there something ran right into her and she fell to the ground. Looking up to see who it was that bumped into her, but as soon she saw who it was she felt her eyes widen and a small blush making its way up her cheeks.

It was him. The blond boy with the gold glittering eyes she never thought she would see again.

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And that's it for this time. Review please!


	3. Feelings

Hello again my dear readers! I'm so sorry for the wait but I swear school was trying to kill us since they gave us about 20 assignements for just a few weeks. Anyway I'm so happy 9 persons actually reviewed on the last chapter, you made me so happy. Thank you very much y muchas gracias **tsminnn, Joitch, yuumon, Harco8059, Inu no youkai, Fireblaze, guest, Iyoku No Hokori and hitomi65**. Please continue to review and constuctive criticims is welcome. Thank you for all favorites and alerts and though they make me happy so would it be much appreciated if you would leave a comment on why you did it.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Uraboku and I didn't last chapter either.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 3.

There he actually was, the boy who she wished to forget but couldn't and who she thought would never appear before her again.

She couldn't stop looking at him and observed every detail. He still had the messy blond hair and those living, glimmering, golden amber eyes that took her breath away. His face had gone from beautiful to good-looking; just the type girls go crazy over, she'd been right about that. He seemed taller than her and he was muscular with lightly tanned skin that matched perfectly with his eyes. He was clad in a red kimono that matched his skin and the fire in his eyes.

While Shuusei stared breathlessly at the boy, he could only stare back. The girl he'd bumped into who was now sitting on the ground was gorgeous in his eyes. Her face couldn't be described other than beautiful with her pale skin that was slightly red at the cheeks and her amber eyes were the most mysterious and intriguing he'd ever seen. Her light brown hair was slightly curled and hanged naturally around her body. She was quite tall for a girl and though she might not have fully developed all of her curves but that slimness was perfect for her and she seemed very agile because of it. She wore gray training clothes which wasn't her color at all, it took away most of hers colors.

Deciding that the bare ground wasn't a place where a young girl should sit so he stretched out his hand.

"Are you okay? He asked, successfully breaking Shuusei's staring and after looking at his hand for a few moments like it was poisoned, she grabbed his hand and raised herself from the ground.

"Yes, thank you." She answered politely and dusted of the dirt from her clothes.

"We should…" The boy started before he was cut off by a new voice.

"Hotsuma, you need to stop running away by yourself when we're traveling." A dark haired man said while gripping the boy's, now identified as Hotsuma, shoulder to hinder him from running away.

"You know we have to at least introduce ourselves to the leaders before even thinking about rushing away to explore, or meeting with girls." He continued scolding Hotsuma and putting in the last part when he looked over to Shuusei.

"Tsk, who cares?" Hotsuma muttered.

"Everyone except you obviously, it's called manners you know." The other man answered.

"Fine, I'm coming" Hotsuma snapped back but before turning to Shuusei.

"Are you perhaps a part of the Usui family? If so then you can come as well, this old man is no fun company and it's always reassuring to know at least one person when coming to a new place." Hotsuma asked turning to Shuusei, but she just looked sadly at him.

"Hey, who are you calling an old man?" The man shouted but Hotsuma just ignored him, waiting for Shuusei's answer.

"I'm afraid I'm not allowed to" Shuusei answered before starting to walk away, knowing he will probably ask more questions if she didn't walk away.

"What's with that answer?" Hotsuma called but seeing no reaction from her, tried something else.

"I'll meet you again, okay? I'll be sure to find you." He shouted after her, and this time he saw her slightly turning her head and a small smile made it to her lips before she turned her head away.

That was one of the saddest smiles Hotsuma had seen and it made him decide on the spot that he would make her happy one way or another since he definitely didn't like her sad look.

"So who was she?" The man known as Takeru questioned.

"Ah, she's… damn it, I forgot to ask her name." Hotsuma growled.

"Haha, that is so like you. Anyway we need to get back to the others. Let's go." Takeru said and continued to laugh while walking. Hotsuma was just about to go as well but his eyes landed on a book on the ground and he picked it up, he guessed the girl had dropped it since there was no one else here. He picked it up and started following Takeru. He would return here later to see if she would come looking for the book and for the rest of the walk his thoughts were on the sad girl both from now and from all those years ago.

On the other hand Shuusei went to her abandoned garden to think. She climbed up in the tree and looked down in the pond.

The boy, Hotsuma, she'd finally met him again and he'd grown up to more handsome than she thought, he appeared to be quite persistent, a little naïve and definitely a rebel. Still he seemed to be the cheerful type that was liked by everyone, not at all like herself who was hated. And he was a member of the Renjou family, which meant he was a candidate for the new God power, and since he was handsome and had an interesting personality, and knowing Izanami so would she not let this go unnoticed. That and the fact she was forbidden to speak to anyone of them unless they initiated it made it very unlikely they would meet again, and if they ever would meet and someone saw them she wouldn't be let of easily.

Taking all that in consideration together with her own bad luck so wouldn't it surprise her if he would forget her quickly and focusing on his training and possibly Izanami. That he had a Gods power wouldn't surprise her either and then Izanami would turn out to be the other. They would then leave this place to train and develop their relationship so they would be just as close to each other as the other Zweilt pairs. She on the other hand would still be here forgotten without anyone caring until she dies. That wouldn't surprise her at all; she was no good after all.

Suddenly pictures would flash by her eyes in the water. It was her and Hotsuma laughing in a place she'd never seen before together with pictures of her fighting. It stopped as quickly as it had started and it had only taken a few minutes.

"Hahahaha" She started to laugh like crazy while tears starting to run down her cheeks. It wasn't enough with her being useless, she was starting to hallucinate as well, if they found out about that then she would be locked up for the rest of her miserable life.

She could feel her laughter calm down while the tears continued running. Yes, the hallucination showed her deepest desire. She wanted away from here to a more exiting life together with Hotsuma who intrigued her since she'd never met someone like him. Nothing would make her happier but knowing it was impossible just made it more depressing.

This really is crazy; here she was, having a total breakdown just because of a boy she barely knew, he really has to be special to draw her to him so much just after two meetings, and for her it was that small glimpse of his, what she believed, kind personality, his eyes and that amazing smile. There was his warmth as well; she never felt any warmth since nobody had ever bothered showing her any warmth and that resulted in her feeling quite cold. Then Hotsuma came and gave her a taste of what it could feel like. She felt herself wanting more of that even though she knew it wouldn't be possible.

She wiped away the last tears from her chin before jumping down and washing of her face to get rid of the small redness from her crying.

Deciding to distract her thoughts she starts looking for the book she'd picked up earlier to read but when she couldn't find it she remembered that she dropped it when she collided with Hotsuma.

'Fantastic, just my luck' she thought before heading back where she dropped it hoping that nobody had picked up the book.

Another picture flashed by showing the book being picked up by Hotsuma. No. please don't let Hotsuma pick it up, she would never be able to get back the book without a confrontation. That couldn't be called anything other than a twist of fate, throwing her into him time after time. Really, what did she do to deserve this fate? She tried to be good even when people continued to look down on her. She didn't need more things to make her to want to be someone else, Hotsuma wouldn't need someone like her in his company long and she didn't want to deal with anymore rejection.

When she came to the street where she met him she looked around on the ground but seeing as there was no book there someone must have picked it up. Knowing that there was a very slim chance that she would get back her book, she looked dejectedly around one more time before sighing heavily. This really wasn't her best day.

At the same time Hotsuma had finally been able to shake away the girls so that he could look around in town and at the same time searching after the mysterious girl from 6 years ago. He had only just met those girls from the other family but he could confidently say that preferred the brunet any day, just thinking about the introduction meeting made him shudder.

"_And that is our last youth, in all together there're 2 girls and 3 boys of the youths that have the potential to become a new Zweilt, but our most_ _probable is Hotsuma." Daichi-sama said. In all they were 5 youths, Takeru and Daichi-sama that had come here since they saw no meaning with the whole family coming here when they were only supposed to be here a month, besides they needed some people to guard their home. This resulted in that their introduction had ended quickly but that wasn't the case with their hosts. _

_Firstly they had introduced all 3 elders, then the head teachers before finally moving on to the 2 boys and 4 girls. Hotsuma had first hoped that even if the brunet had declined his invitation so would she still be there but when he saw all of the candidates his hope disappeared._

"_Now you are free to do what you like but I recommend you to get to know the persons you are going to spend the rest of the month with" One of the Usui elders said, Hotsuma couldn't actually care less about anyone of them, let alone even remember their name. Well, ever since he came here only one thing actually mattered and that was so brunet girl so he gave no thought to the persons he didn't care about._

_He was just about to walk away from there when 3 of the girls came forward surrounding him, making him unable to escape._

"_Hi, your name was Hotsuma, right? My name is Yuri." The first girl said._

"_I'm Junko" The second girl said._

_And I'm Tsukiko" The third one continued._

"_Hello." Hotsuma answered patiently though he was feeling it was running out already. He'd just enough time to say that before he was bombed with questions._

"_What do you specialize in?"_

"_Do you have a girlfriend or fiancée?"_

"_How is it at your home?"_

"_Do you hope you're the new Zweilt?"_

"_Have you traveled to a lot of places?"_

_To just mention a few questions and they gave him no chance to answer and just before he snapped another person spoke._

"_Girls, can't you see that you're smoldering him with your questions? You should be calmer you know." The new girl reprimanded them and if Hotsuma remembered correctly she was one of the favorites of the other family._

"_I hope they weren't too hard on you, they are barely becoming young women and they haven't seen much of the world so they can be a bit ignorant. Oh, please forgive my manners, my name is Izanami." The girl continued after seeing the girls running of giggling to talk to the rest of the boys, and giving Hotsuma no chance to excuse himself._

"_No, it's okay, and I'm Hotsuma." He responded while thinking he really wanted to get out of here._

"_Yes I know, you were quite hard to miss under the presentation, your elder really praised you. But is he just boastful or are you as good as he say you are?" She questioned while batting her eyelashes in a flirting way but Hotsuma totally ignored it, or he just didn't notice._

"_I would say it's a bit of both." He answered short, really trying to get this conversation to end but she was stubborn._

"_Then maybe you could show me some techniques while you're here, I'm really interested in learning new things and I'm really good at fighting so you won't feel bored. What do you say?" She persistently said making Hotsuma really close to snapping. He wasn't the most patient person after all._

"_Whatever, perhaps later, now if you would excuse me, I need to go." Hotsuma answered harshly while glaring at her, hoping it would scare her away._

_She shrank away from in fright but she collected herself before anyone would see it other than Hotsuma that is._

"_Oh well, that can't be helped. But if you need anything then just ask me, I know about anything worth knowing about." She said in a sweet voice, but it sounded faked in Hotsuma's ears but he didn't care._

"_Thanks. Bye" Was Hotsuma's short answer before he walked away, not even bothering to waiting for her to say her farewells. _

Yes, those girls were clingy, well they were probably nice girls but they just weren't the kind he got along well with or was interested in.

He looked down on the book which owner he was searching for. "Defense: magic barriers advanced" stood on the book.

'Huh, that's weird.' Hotsuma thought. He might not be someone who knew much about girls but he was pretty sure that was not something they usually read. Well, not normal girls at least as she seemed to be one. Wait, doesn't that mean she's not a normal girl? Wouldn't it be possible if she was with the Giou clan? But on the other hand it seemed like she wasn't welcome there or didn't belong there. There was something very strange happening here but unfortunately Hotsuma isn't the smartest one out there so he couldn't come up with an explanation that would fit.

Hotsuma decided that this would be the question he would ask her direct after he asked for her name next time he saw her, which he hoped wouldn't take a long time.

He started searching for her more eagerly looking on every person who moved to see if he saw that long hair or those mysterious eyes. He walked on the path where he met her last time hoping she might cross there often and at last he saw a girl with long brown hair and he could recognize her immediately.

She didn't seem to notice Hotsuma's presence and was instead looking on the ground searching for something. Hotsuma was pretty sure she was looking for the book though.

"Are you looking for this?" Hotsuma suddenly spoke without warning and Shuusei spun around looking on him with surprise before her eyes fell on the book.

"Yes, thank you for finding it." Shuusei said quickly before grabbing the book and dashing off. Hotsuma could just stare for a few seconds because of the surprise but he had some questions he wanted answered so he broke free from his staring to starting to chase her.

"Wait, can you please wait? I have some questions I want to ask!" He called after her while running after her, but Shuusei just ignored him since she knew she would get into a lot of trouble if anyone saw her with him anymore.

She ran into the maze of small streets that existed everywhere around the town hoping she would shake him of but he was more persistent than she expected. After running for about 20 minutes she noticed he was gaining on her and she was getting slower, well it wasn't so weird, her body wasn't the fittest after all. She needed somewhere to hide and quick, otherwise he would get a hold of her and they were far too close to where they lived, she hadn't been focusing on where she ran. Very stupid of her, she usually didn't make blunders like that. Looking around her she suddenly noticed one of the small gardens that existed in the town and lucky for her it was one of the more overgrown ones. She sprinted over there and ducked under one of the bushes and then swung herself up in a dense Elm tree. She sat still on one of the branches while trying to be as quiet as possible so he wouldn't notice her.

Hotsuma ran after her into the garden and stopped when he didn't see her. He looked around for anything that might hint to where she went, but he only felt the wind blowing.

He sighed, it seems like she got away again without him getting any answers. He decided to give up this time but next time he saw her he would definitely get ahold of her. He walked out of the garden with a small hope that he would see her on his way back.

Shuusei watched Hotsuma searching but when he found nothing he left. After 5 minutes Shuusei decided that he wouldn't return and jumped down on the ground.

It had been pure willpower to be able to sit still up there and not jumping down to announce her presence to Hotsuma. Her rationality had won in the end. She didn't want any more illusions of a better life that would be impossible to achieve anyway, which she would conjure if she allowed herself to be in his company. It was better to be forgotten in that case, it was the most logical thing after all.

This was going to be one weird month if he was going to chase her every time he saw her. On the other hand if she didn't show herself then he wouldn't care and ignore her and no one would know she'd broken the rules after only one day.

She really hoped they would find the guardians before the end of the month so they would leave before Takashiro-sama would to come down. That was the plan after all, if the Zweilts were discovered before the end of the month then they would travel to wherever Takashiro-sama was at the moment, but if they didn't then he would come down personally since he could sense the powers in people. They wanted the new ones to be partners and that was only possible to be if they chose them themselves and not someone else. Those pairs either ended up dying after only a few months or they split up again. The elders had then hoped that if two powers were awakening around the same place around the same time without interference then the chances were high that they were compatible with each other. This was the reason to this whole little training camp. In the beginning she thought it sounded interesting but now she just wanted it to end so these impossible dreams would stop haunting her.

That was what her brain said but her heart said something entirely different. It wanted to be with him right now and stay there forever. The bare thought of leaving him and never seeing him again made her grow cold, colder than anything she ever felt in her entire life.

No, these opposite feelings made her feel things she never wanted to feel and the only thing she really wanted now was for it to stop, one way or another. This storm of emotions was too much to handle for someone who tried to kill her emotions the best she could so that she didn't get hurt by others.

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That's it this time, please review!


	4. Caught

Hello again!

I am not dead, just an useless authoress who can't update in a normal pace. I am sorry for this and I can't promise this won't happen again, but I'll do my best. I am so happy for all the reviews I've gotten, thank you so much for all the nice words: **hitomi65, tsminnn, Bobby Country, guest, MiracleTrain, HotsuShuFan, FidgeyTova, Fireblaze, yuumon, Iyoku No Hokori, yuumon2, Candypoptricksterlove.** Thank you for the favorites and follows, but I'd be even more happy if you could review as well.

Constructive criticism is welcome so please review!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Uraboku!

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Chapter 4.

Hotsuma sat on a small patch of green grass in the shade of an old tree, taking a break from training. The training was harsh but that was to be expected, they were the future and would sooner or later step into the battlefield since a battle was incoming. Ever since they were small children had the adults taught them their duty, and no one was allowed to leave. Everyone counted no matter how insignificant they were since the more chess pieces the leaders had, the better. The children didn't question this, and even as they had grown up and started to realize what the war actually meant for their lives, they still stayed. It's the only way of life that they know of and they have often been exposed to the damage a duras can do, and therefore can't pretend that they don't exist.

Hotsuma was no different, he knew this fate was leading him to an early death with small chances of joy in it, but he couldn't abandon it. He couldn't betray his family and risking their safety. His older brother had died during school by a duras hand, that day they had lost 6 children and three teachers before they could kill it. It was a day of great loss for them since they severely lack people that can fight.

He lied down and closed his eyes. There was no point in brooding over the past nor the future, the past was over and couldn't be changed. The future had yet to unfold but there was no running away, even he knew that much. Once he had believed he could do anything, but the adults quickly took that idea away from him before he did something stupid.

That reminded him of the promise he made so foolishly years ago. He knew now that it was impossible to keep, but he would try to make it right some way or another, but he had to catch her first. Seriously, why did she run from him? He hadn't done anything to offend her, had he?

Hotsuma sighed and sat up again. He didn't have time to rest like this; he needed to train to survive upcoming battles. Besides, he would get nowhere if he continued to think about what he could have done to her, it would be much faster if he just asked her, when he found her that is. He wasn't that smart either; he would probably come up with some stupid reason and totally destroy that small chance to become friends with her, if he met her with that idea.

He raised himself from the ground and strode back to the training ground, he didn't have the time to rest for long and the hard training would keep his thoughts out of his head. Then when he is done with the training for today, he would go look for her again.

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Shuusei looked up at the evening sky with all of its bright colors. She had mixed feelings about it, the sky was beautiful and the fact that it could be in so many colors baffled her, something that could be so dull on the day could actually turn into this amazing picture another. At the same time it's something unreachable, never meant for her to achieve or keep for herself.

Like Hotsuma.

She shook her head. She shouldn't think about him, she wouldn't gain anything from it and besides he would be gone by the end of the month.

Well if she left early in the morning and came back late it would be no problem. The other times were in the day and being out then wasn't something weird. She should be more careful in the future to not be seen and to minimize the chances of seeing him; therefore she would be out on the times when no one else would. Her secret garden was after all well hidden and the chance of someone being there is almost nonexistent. If someone would find it though, she wasn't especially worried since there was no shortage of hiding spots there.

The sky darkened while Shuusei looked on in silence, and when the first stars started to show themselves she decided to return to her room.

She jumped down from the branch she'd been sitting on with her book in one hand and started to walk away from there. She walked down a small lane humming on a lullaby her parents used to sing for her before they abandoned her. She didn't remember the words anymore but the melody spoke to her, the melancholy in it appealed her.

Shuusei wasn't worried that anyone would bother her now when everyone was busy spending time with their family around the dining table. She reminded herself to retrieve some food from the kitchen before she returned to bed; she hadn't really eaten anything since noon.

She rounded a corner with quiet steps and still humming on the lullaby when suddenly something jumps down in front of her. Startled she stops humming and takes a few quick steps back before stopping and taking a good look on the thing that nearly landed on her.

It was him, of course it was him.

He turned towards her, and before she had a chance to react he reached out his hand and to took a firmly grip on her hand. It was a gentle grip, neither painful nor harsh. It was something that Shuusei wasn't familiar with, and she didn't have the heart to pull away.

"I finally found you." Hotsuma said to her while looking straight into her eyes with honesty. "There is no way I'm going to let you get away now, not when I caught you."

Shuusei smiled her sweetest and most innocent smile. "I understand, but I promise I won't run away so could you release me since you're hurting me." She responded.

Hotsuma didn't want to hurt her so he loosened his grip on her hand but didn't release her. It was enough though for Shuusei to get away from him. She didn't want to pull away but it was necessary since she wasn't interested in getting to know him. She pulled her hand out of Hotsuma's loose grip and started to run.

She heard a surprised cry form Hotsuma but she didn't turn around just focusing at getting away from him.

Hotsuma wasn't slow to react this time though and started running after her almost immediately. He noticed he wouldn't be able to keep up with her for long he figured, so he threw himself at her but instead of catching her he stumbled right into her and both of them fell to the ground, covered in mud.

Shuusei turned to him. "Was that really necessary?" She said calmly but her eyes were cold. He'd pushed her into the mud where she now sat with dirt all over her.

"Well, it wasn't on purpose, I just tried to grab you, but you stopped, didn't you? So it was a success either way since I got ahold of you." Hotsuma replied with no regret, while shaking with laughter.

"I fail to see what's so funny about this situation. And why is it so important to talk to me? You barely know me." She muttered in response to his failed attempts to hide his amusement.

"No, nothing I'm sorry." He answered, but he was still laughing.

Shuusei sighed and tried to stand up since Hotsuma had absolutely no intention to help her up like a gentleman should, not like anyone actually had treated her like that. However, before she got the chance to raise herself completely up from the ground, she felt Hotsuma drag her in her sleeve and before she knew it she was down on the ground again.

"Seriously!? I don't want to be either on the ground or here!" Shuusei almost shouted before she got ahold of herself, she didn't like showing her real feelings to others after all.

"Please stay. I have a lot of questions I want to ask." Hotsuma begged her cheerfully. "Firstly, what's your name? I'm Hotsuma..."

"I know." Shuusei interrupted him.

"Huh? Oh yea, you heard my name last time we met."

"Actually, it was when you first came, not last time." Shuusei corrected automatically before she restrained herself.

"You remember! I'm happy, you seemed like you didn't care at all." Hotsuma happily said. "Can you please tell me your name?"

"No." She simply answered.

"Eh? Tell me."

"Why?"

"Why? You are seriously asking me that? What else would I want your name for except for addressing you and wanting to know more about you?" Hotsuma could feel his hot temper rising but he didn't release it yet.

"Why do you want to know me?" Shuusei asked, adding an innocent tone to her voice. She was actually starting to have a bit of fun, Hotsuma was so easy to read and she could clearly see that he was losing control. At the same time she could see that a part of him was truly confused why she was asking such a thing, perhaps he wasn't used to someone saying 'no' to him but it was merely speculation. Besides, it was revenge for holding her down on the cold ground.

Hotsuma on the other hand didn't think it was just as fun; in fact he was getting more irritated.

"Because you're interesting." He mumbled a bit embarrassed even with his blood boiling in irritation.

"Why do you find me interesting?" Shuusei continued to ask while keeping a mask of complete innocence on her. Hotsuma looked like he wasn't sure if was supposed to be angry at her or embarrassed, and it was making it hard for her to keep her mask on. Still, she had a lot of practice over the years and she was confident in her expressions.

Shuusei was right about Hotsuma, he partly was embarrassed that she made him say something he didn't want to say and she was actually pressing on. At the same time he was angry for some reason, probably because she didn't want to tell him her name, what harm could it do? It was just a name. He really didn't get women. This confusion made him lose his head even more and before he thought about what he should say, he just blurted out his exact thoughts.

"Because you are mysterious, run away from me all the time and you are simply beautiful." He said without any thought and then stopped when the words reached his mind. He looked away from her thinking how it was possible he said all those lines. He really needed to control himself he thought while looking everywhere except at Shuusei.

That on the other hand was great for Shuusei because she was feeling her cheeks turning into a light shade of pink but her chocked mind took no notice of it. The first two reasons wasn't anything special, they were true since she did run from him and the mysterious part is because they don't know each other much. It was the third reason that got her mind into an everlasting spiral.

He said she was gorgeous, nobody had said that before, actually nobody had even commented that she was a little bit pretty, just the usual words of annoyance or bullying. It was such a frequent thing in her life that she started to believe their words; she was ugly, frail and therefore useless. That somebody disagreed with them was new to her and that made her speechless. Her mind was turning and twisting the words but couldn't get anything out of it, it simply was there and it was the truth Hotsuma believed in. She would have to add another thing to the list about Hotsuma, his way of viewing things were very wrong, but she could use this as an advantage, though she didn't know if she could pull through with it. She had no experience with it after all.

Shuusei moved closer to Hotsuma who still seemed to be embarrassed at the lines he just said.

"Ne Hotsuma, you really think so?" She said with a sweet voice, trying to sound a bit seducing. She moved closer to Hotsuma and put one of her hands on Hotsuma's arm.

At the sound of Shuusei's voice Hotsuma was pulled out of his thoughts and looked back at her, only to find his face 5 centimeters from hers. Startled he tried to pull back a bit but Shuusei moved closer again and since she nearly sat on him he couldn't move much. He tried to think of something to respond to her question but her alluring eyes held him captivated and he couldn't think of something to say. In the end he just nodded.

When Shuusei saw Hotsuma nod she smiled a little, partly because she could see he really meant it in those warm and honest eyes, and because it was a part of her character she played at the moment.

"Then, you wouldn't mind doing something for me? Of course I will give you something in return." She continued with her sweet voice while moving her hand that is situated on his arm.

Hotsuma, who was still speechless, just nodded again while feeling his blush intensifying. Just when did she get the upper hand on him?

Shuusei really enjoyed this feeling of being the one in control for once in her life; she never had the opportunity before since all she ever did was making herself so unnoticeable as possible, and lock up her feelings in the process to make it easier.

She smiled down at Hotsuma and leaned in and whispered in Hotsuma's ear.

"Don't ever approach me again, only I can make contact with you. In return I'll give you my name." She put some distance between them and raised herself from the ground. She started to walk away, but Hotsuma finally got out of his daze when their eye contact broke.

"Hey! What happened to your name? Weren't you going to give it to me?" He called out to her while jumping up from the ground.

She turned around with a smile again; he really had some amusing mood swings.

"It's Shun." She said loud enough for him to hear before turning around again. She could obviously not give him her true name since he might ask around and she was the only one with that name living here. If he asked the others in the family they would immediately know that she had talked to one of the visitors, and she would be punished for not following orders. That was something she definitely didn't want to happen.

"Okay, thanks Shun-chan. By the way, I won't follow what you said to me, you're too interesting for that." He shouted back again to make sure she heard it. He usually kept promises but this was one he just couldn't bring himself to keep. Besides if only she was allowed to make contact, he was certain they would hardly meet even once more.

Hotsuma thought about following her again but decided against it since she was far ahead of him now and because he had sneaked out from the dinner to look at the stars. They would probably wonder where he was, well their hosts would at least, his own friends and family knew he liked to watch the stars alone. It was soothing; he could forget everything and just focus on those small lights that shone so bright, while watching all the tiny humans living their lives.

Hotsuma started to walk back to the main house. He liked it there actually, people were friendly and he enjoyed being around other humans. The girls were a bit annoying in the beginning with all their questions, but once they stopped and he just hanged with them together with his friends he found them quite pleasant. There was only one thing, if Shun-chan was there it would be great. He looked up at the stars while walking and really hoped he would find her again.

* * *

Shuusei heard what Hotsuma shouted and frowned. Why couldn't he do as she wanted? But he seemed like he didn't do what other people wanted him to do. And he actually put a –chan after her name, well fake name, really rude since they barely knew each other. But on the other hand, she hadn't put any honorifics after his name at all so she was just as rude; however it hadn't felt quite right to call him just by his name. She wondered why that was, but didn't come up with a good reason so she dropped it.

His decision to find her was starting to get really problematic because she couldn't uphold her masks of indifference and fake feelings around him for long and that was something Shuusei didn't want to experience. Showing her true feelings meant nothing but bad news in her life. They would take advantage of her vulnerability that came with showing what you really felt and use it against her; she had discovered that the hard way. She also knew that once they got past her mask they would only find the lonely and useless being she was left.

When she had her mask on around people who didn't know her they wouldn't notice the imperfections that she was. It was the perfect protection against other people for her, when they knew her it gave them less things to hurt her with, and against the unknown they wouldn't know how she really was nor felt and scorn her for that. And if there was someone that she didn't want to show her real self for, and cowardly since she'd never met her problems head on first instead she just hide from them, so was it Hotsuma. There was no reason to think like that but her instincts told her to not let Hotsuma hate her and she was certain that once he finds out, he will definitely hate her like everyone else.

She took a detour for her own safety in case he decided to follow her even if she didn't see or hear him coming after her. She went past some small gardens and different houses before finally arriving at the house. She sneaked into the kitchen for some left overs from the dinner which turned out to be some dumplings. She walked back through the corridors quietly because of the paper walls. When she came to her own room, opened the door and then closed it, she slumped down in her bed while eating on the food.

Shuusei was dead tired; the day had gone by without any problems until nightfall. Why was Hotsuma out at such an hour? Guest dinners were sacred in this household, when they were held the elders made sure that everyone was participating the whole time, even she wasn't an exception, unless someone important were there. She needed to rethink her schedules, if Hotsuma was out at such an hour then when should she go back? Probably even later, but she would have to be more careful now, no more meetings than necessary, which were none. Even the part of her heart that wanted to be with Hotsuma couldn't falter her decision to not see him.

Chance, luck or fate though didn't seem to be on her side in this case, she always bumped into Hotsuma one way or another, like they were saying: "Let's make her life as miserable as possible." But the part of her that wanted to be with Hotsuma survived because of these chance encounters and saw it to be the best thing ever happening to her, which isn't very hard since her life hasn't been very kind to her.

She finished the food and lay down to finally get her well required sleep; she needed to get up early next morning after all. Shuusei felt the sleep gaining on her and welcomed the darkness and the silence to her thoughts it brought.

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That's it for this time and I'm sorry it's not a long chapter. Please review!


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